87 silverado reg cab 2wd 350cid 350 trans.... questions

[gasmn1620]

Alright boys... I'm gonna ask a series of questions here.... so probably dumb as ****, some things yall may not approve of doing to my truck.... but I'm gonna anyway.

1st- I bought the energy suspensions bushing kit. I'm gonna be dropping the truck with spindles and springs in the front, flipping the rear. My question(s) are what else should I replace while doing this? brake line? U-bolts? Rotors? Wheel bearings? I will be replacing the shocks all the way around for sure.

2nd- I also bought headers ( Christmas trip to the summit store in atl). I'm gonna have duals done so I assume I should wait uuntil I'm ready to drop it off at the exhaust shop before installing them. I got long tube summit brand headers... nothing fancy. Thinking about wrapping them before putting them in too. Any tricks or tips or other things to do while I'm doing them?

I'll post some before and after pics. Just got this truck 2 months ago. She's only got 68k miles on her and she's all stock, for now, other than some aluminum bullet hole wheels that are being swapped for other wheels I already bought.

thanks for your time/advice. II'll be scouring the boards to rob your ideas for sure.

[gasmn1620]

Oh yeah.... 1 more thing, without taking it apart and measuring how can I tell what size rotor goes on the truck. All the spindles I look at have a rotor thickness spec. Man I feel like a girl asking these questions.

[gasmn1620]

Oops... 1 more.... what all do i need to swap out this ridiculous FI and just put a carb on this thing. I hate the damn service engine light.

[C.W]

Hey, we need pics.
As for rotor thickness being an 87 I would say with 90% guarantee that you will have the 1.25" thick rotors but better to pull a wheel and measure how thick they are just in case.
As for the exhaust I would wait until after lowering the truck and giving the springs time to settle if you can. Long tubes are already gonna be close to the ground if your doing a 3" spindle and 2" spring like my burb. At least if the exhaust shop sees how low it is hopefully they will route the pipe accordingly.
I just had my long bed done and since they didnt keep the new pipes as tight to the body as the old I will have to redo most of the front section once I drop it.

As to what else to replace, when you swap spindles its a good time to do ball joints if needed and control arm bushings, shaft kits, etc. Also being a chevy idler and pitman arms are most likely worn unless they were recently replaced. Brake hoses, and other related parts if old or worn..... its all gonna be apart anyway.

[D13]

Cheaper and easier to fix TBI then convert. Read the codes, follow the tree, etc.

Replace the rear spring bushings while you are in there. Also alook at adding a rear sway bar.

[school boy]

On the tbi to carb, you will need:
hei distributor
sbc intake manifold
fuel regulator bypass
carb
any hardware and gaskets
You can use you in tank pumps with both main and return lines with the regulator bypass, you will just have to modify the ends at the engine. Also have to get a wiring diagram and adjust where the ignition wires come from. The tbi and factory ignition harness is pretty easy to remove with little cutting.

[gasmn1620]

ok... well here is where I am right now. Ordered the 5 inch blocks for the back from specialtyretail on here, taking those long tube headers back and going to get some chevelle shorties or some block huggers and then have my exhaust done. as far as the front goes I'm going to get some 2.5 or 3 inch drop spindles and either cut my stock coils for now or get some 2 inch drop coils.

I will be getting some tube a-arms when I bag it this summer.... but that will come when I notch the frame, cut my bed (hoping to just raise the stock floor to keep some functionality, and I'll have to redo the front fender wells because I'm running 22x9s. Once the stance is right and the suspension is tight again (installing the energy suspension kit when I do the drop) I'm moving to the interior.

The interior is the worst part of this truck. Seat need all new foam. I'm switching the color from blue to gray/charcoal. The interior will be painted first so I can complete the whole thing before moving to the outside. I have a little rust on the bedrails and some in the door jambs to fix. Nothing major. nothing is rusted through, just surface rust.

My fiance' got new head and tail lights for me for christmas so those will be installed eventually. This is my daily when it's raining or too cold to ride my harley so progress will be a little slow. I'll start a build thread with pics once I get going. Thinking about doing 1 piece side windows too.

[Bigstevex4]

Just a note theres nothing like energy suspention to stiffn up a ride if thats what you want if not be aware.

[enaberif]

Don't wrap the headers it can cause them to rust out easier. There has been reports that antiseize on them keeps them clean. Or invest some money and get them ceramic coated.

[gasmn1620]

I know energy suspension poly bushing pretty well. Used there stuff in other rides I've had. I don't mind a little vibration and such.... I'd rather have that than stuff moving in directions it shouldnt' be. Even when I'm done this will still be a part time driven vehicle. I'm probably not going to wrap the headers now that I'm going with shorties or huggers.

[Tx Firefighter]

I like Prothane bushings for the control arms because they reuse the stock outer bushing shells. The Prothanes just slide right in there. It's about 64000 times easier to install when you don't have to remove and replace the outer shells. I've changed barrels full of control arm bushings over the years and have the proper tools to do it with, but it's still a beating to do the outer shells.

[gasmn1620]

yeah... I know what you mean. I'm thinking about getting some junkyard arms and replacing them, cleaning them up, etc before I do the install. I just read your lemons to lemonade build thread today. I'm stealing some ideas from you. Thanks for taking all of that on and posting the knowledge and experience.

[Speeding Dakota]

Sounds like your getting ready to do the same thing I did - CPP 2 1/2" drop spindles with 1 coil cut off stock spring and 5" flip kit in rear. I also did the complete Energy Kit, replacing every bushing, rebuilt the complete front end (ball joints, bearings, seals, rotors, brakes, brake lines, and all steering components) while I had it apart, while the rear end was out (pulled the shafts and replaced the bearings & seals, replaced all break components & fluid) pulled the leaf springs out and replaced bushings, since I had 2 Ubolts that I didn't like the look of I just replaced them also.
As far as exhaust - I have long tube headers that ran right into the factory cross member so I order a tube one from CPP so the exhaust can run over it.

Basically I took the approach that every moving part that was removed was replaced since I'm working on a 30+ year old truck with who knows how many miles are on it.
Good Luck

[rfmaster]

The absolutely worst thing you can do is go back to Carb. To run headers you'll need convert from one wire (AFS21) O2 sensor to heated version (3 wire) AFS-74. The purple wire will need to be extended to reach new O2 location. You'll need to add a simple power relay circuit that brings switched +12volts to O2 sensor heater circuit. This way O2 never gets cold and can be placed aft header collector.

//RF

[83swb]

Originally Posted by rfmaster

The absolutely worst thing you can do is go back to Carb. To run headers you'll need convert from one wire (AFS21) O2 sensor to heated version (3 wire) AFS-74. The purple wire will need to be extended to reach new O2 location. You'll need to add a simple power relay circuit that brings switched +12volts to O2 sensor heater circuit. This way O2 never gets cold and can be placed aft header collector.

//RF

I don't see why switching to carb would be that bad of a decision. A swap could be done at a reasonable cost with some second hand parts, and you would probably end up saving a little in the long run by avoiding tbi complications. He doesn't need to run O2's either, they could be deleted.

[gasmn1620]

tried to go back and edit my original post, weird that I can't do that. Every other forum let's you. Anyway, I couldn't just sit around and wait for parts anymore. I stuck some wheels on the truck.... man that thing is sitting high. I'm waiting on some parts to get here to lower it. I gotta run back to summit and exchange some stuff too. After I get all that I am going to rebuild the suspenion and drop it at the same time. I think I'll focus on the interior after that.

These wheels are probably going to end up temporary. I don't like how sunk in they are. They are 22x9 +19 but they still sit to far in for me and I think they are going to cause problems when I lower it. I may have to get some spacers if I keep them. More then likely I will just get some other wheels with a 0 offset or maybe even some negative offset. I know you guys speak in back spacing here but I've been in the import world for so long I'll have to learn it.

[gasmn1620]

Hmmmm.... i may not do headers then. I may just get some other manifolds and smooth them out and grind off the little tabs in them. Jumped the gun on buying these headers for sure.

[gasmn1620]

Hey speeding dakota, how much drop did you net? What size wheels and tires are you running?

[csdineley]

I disagree, getting rid of the tbi was the second best thing I've done to my truck so far. After a year of throwing a bunch of money at the tbi. Swapping to a carb was a piece of cake. And a year and half later, I haven't had a single problem with it.

[gasmn1620]

[Jake Wade]

Nice color blue! What paint code is that?

[gasmn1620]

i don't know. The previous owner had it painted. It start life white. This is a single stage job that isn't that good, very sloppily taped off, and peeling around the seals. It'll end up being charcoal pearl to match my harley.